Cram, pen name of Marc Mestag, was a Belgian cartoonist for publications such as De Standaard, Humo, De Volksmacht, Ons Volk, De Nieuwe Gazet, Le Soir Illustré and La Libre Belgique since the 1960s. Besides that, his work was also published in Switzerland and Germany. From 1966 until the early 1980s, he regularly drew cartoons and gag comics for Tintin magazine, mostly independent, but also with recurring characters like 'Hoppy' and 'Monsieur Menu' ('Meneer Turf'). During his Tintin period, Cram also worked with Mittéï and Géri on their series 'L'Indésirable Désiré' and 'Skblllz'.
De Weyfelaers
Besides his Tintin comics, Cram drew 'Orphée' and 'Jehan' for Pourquoi-Pas and 'Dok Schnok' for Ons Volkske. He also made 'De Weyfelaers' for several dailies of the De Standaard group from 1975 onwards. From 1981 he was present in Robbedoes, the Belgian version of Spirou, wiith the series 'Jan Pech'.
Jan Pech
This absurd gag strip ran until 1983, but then Cram continued his work for Robbedoes until the late 1980s with a great many stop-gap cartoons. A collection of his work was published by De Dageraad in the album 'Cram zag eens pruimen hangen', in 1983.
Photo: Danny de Laet